This weekend a magazine wrote about the fashion trick modelGigi Hadid was using to ‘disguise her pregnancy.’ The magazine in question - British Vogue - was referring to a response she gave a fan in an Instagram Live when they asked why she didn’t ‘have a tummy’ (Hadid’s baby is reportedly due in September, which would make her about seven months pregnant). She replied 'This angle and the really baggy jumpsuit make for an optical illusion. From the side it’s a different story!' - referring to an Isabel Marant jumpsuit she was wearing.
When the story was published, and referenced her ‘disguising’ her pregnancy, Hadid was unimpressed.
‘Disguise ….?’ She tweeted.
‘I said in a baggy jumpsuit the front and side views are visually different stories- not that that was intentional or I was trying to hide anything. Will be proud and happy to share “insight” when I feel like it, thanks.’ Adding that she was ‘proudly’ experiencing her pregnancy with family and loved ones.
The episode serves as a reminder that even now, during lockdown, pregnant women’s bodies, and their bumps, are seen as fair game. Maybe it’s worse because of the relative dearth of celebrity news right now (although I’m not so sure) but the progress of actress Sophie Turner’s ‘blossoming’ (ugh) bump has been closely tracked by the tabloids, while it’s been noted that Hadid has chosen not to ‘flaunt’ hers - a reflection of the fact that she’s decided that she’d rather not stick pictures of her rapidly changing body all over Instagram at the moment- as is her right.
READ MORE: Questioning The Paternity Of Gigi Hadid’s Baby Is Not Okay
The normal person version of this dilemma is no less fraught - do you make a a pregnancy announcement on Instagram or keep it to yourself, risking the slightly judgy ‘OMG, I had no idea you were pregnant’ comments when you do eventually post a pic of your new baby/your adult offspring’s graduation depending on how long you want to leave it?
Or if you do decide to go public is there a right or a wrong way to do it when we’re in the midst of (for example) an unprecedented global pandemic? Or what about if you, or people around you, have recently experienced pregnancy loss? Negotiating what you do or don’t want to say with sensitivity becomes even trickier, which was something Instagram influencer The Frugality explored in a post this weekend when she announced her pregnancy with a bump picture, having sadly miscarried twins last year.
When I was pregnant last year, I quickly started to look like Mr Greedy in Mr Men, with a prominent bump that was tricky to disguise, so I didn’t. Had I carried it differently, I might have been tempted to keep that information to myself and my husband for a little while longer and ‘disguise’ my bump with a handy Isabel Marant jumpsuit (and by Isabel Marant, I probably mean Topshop). Instead I outed myself quite early on, which was mostly nice, although random people shouting ‘it’s a boy’ at me in the street got a bit tedious after a while (they were right). But fundamentally, that was my choice, and when there’s so little about the insanity of pregnancy, childbirth and having a baby that you can’t control, a bit of autonomy over the narrative of your pregnancy, who you tell and when, shouldn’t be too much to ask. It’s your story to tell, no-one else's.
And frankly, who can blame Hadid for keeping her baby bump to herself? After all, we also have a poor track record of placing judgment on the size, shape, height and very presence on women’s bumps - especially famous women. From the weird online obsession with Meghan Markle and the Moonbump (an online and quite scary conspiracy theory that she was faking her pregnancy with the aid of a stunt bump - Beyonce’s also been accused of this trick, FYI) to Kim Kardashian (too fat) Kate Middleton (not fat enough) and way back to Demi Moore in 1991 (too naked), very few pregnant bodies fit with our narrow view of what we consider ‘acceptable’.
Whether you decide to have a public pregnancy or not, whether you're famous or not, the story of your pregnancy is unique, and it's yours to tell.